True Blue by Diana Palmer

Author:Diana Palmer [Palmer, Diana]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Romance, Contemporary
ISBN: 9781459281967
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2011-11-14T13:00:00+00:00

Chapter Six

“I’ve read that book,” Rick said with a slow smile. “Insurgent Mexico. I couldn’t afford to buy it, unfortunately, so I got it on loan from the library. It was published in 1914. A rare book, indeed.”

She shifted uncomfortably. She hadn’t meant to let that bit slip. She was still keeping secrets from him. She shouldn’t have been able to afford the book on her government salary. Her father had given it to her last Christmas. That was another secret she was keeping, too; her father’s identity.

“And would you know Pancho Villa’s real name?” he asked suddenly.

She grinned. “He was born Doroteo Arango,” she said. The smile faded a little. “He changed his name to Pancho Villa, according to one source, because he was hunted by the authorities for killing a man who raped his younger sister. It put him on a path of lawlessness, but he fought all his life for a Mexico that was free of foreign oppression and a government that worked for the poor.”

He smiled with pure delight. “You read Mexican history,” he mused, still surprised.

“Well, yes, but the best of it is in Spanish, so I studied very hard to learn to read it,” she confessed. She flushed. “I like the colonial histories, written by priests in the sixteenth century who sailed with the conquistadores.”

“Spanish colonial history,” he said.

She smiled. “I also like to read about Juan Belmonte and Manolete.”

His eyebrows arched. “Bullfighters?” he exclaimed.

“Well, yes,” she said. “Not the modern ones. I don’t know anything about those. I found this book on Juan Belmonte, his biography. I was so fascinated by it that I started reading about Joselito and the others who fought bulls in Spain at the beginning of the twentieth century. They were so brave. Nothing but a cape and courage, facing a bull that was twice their size, all muscle and with horns so sharp…” She cleared her throat. “It’s not PC to talk about it, I know.”

“Yes, we mustn’t mention blood sports,” he joked. “The old bullfighters were like soldiers who fought in the world wars—tough and courageous. I like World War II history, particularly the North African theater of war.”

Her eyes opened wide behind the lenses of her glasses. “Rommel. Patton. Montgomery. Alexander…”

His lips fell open. “Yes.”

She laughed with some embarrassment. “I’m a history major,” she said. “I took my degree in it.” She didn’t add that she came by her interest in military history quite naturally, nor that her grandfather had known General George S. Patton, Jr., personally.

“Well!”

“You have an associate’s degree in criminal justice and you’re going to night school working on your B.A.,” she blurted out.

He laughed. “What’s my shoe size?”

“Eleven.” She cleared her throat. “Sorry. I have a file on you, too.”

He leaned forward, his large dark eyes narrow. “I’ll have to compile one on you. Just to be fair.”

She didn’t want him to do that, but she just nodded. Maybe he couldn’t dig up too much, even if he tried. She kept her private life very private.

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